


A Slight Misunderstanding

by venomous_syfy



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Bisexual Sokka (Avatar), Enemies to Lovers, Friends to Enemies, Gay Zuko (Avatar), Happy Ending, Lesbian Azula (Avatar), M/M, Mentioned Characters, Panic Attacks, Past Child Abuse, Past Relationship(s), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Slow Burn, Slow Updates, Still set in the Avatar world, Trauma, Zuko (Avatar) Needs a Hug, Zuko (Avatar)-centric, multi-chapter, zukka - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:40:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25161772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/venomous_syfy/pseuds/venomous_syfy
Summary: The war has affected everyone- there's no denying it.Even the Fire Nation Prince was affected by it.So, when Prince Zuko found himself attending a highschool in Ba Sing Se under the name 'Lee', helping his Uncle Iroh run his new tea shop, he doesn't exactly expect to make any friends.He definitely doesn't expect to fall head over heels for who ends up being his best friend.And he doesn't expect said best friend to get so pissed when his real identity is revealed.
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Hakoda & Zuko (Avatar), Jet/Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 109





	1. First Days are Shit. Unless There are Pretty Boys.

**Author's Note:**

> Modern-ish AU. Still takes place within the Avatar universe- just with modern clothes and some modern technology, because I could.

The war affected everyone. It was hard to deny- impossible, even. Ever since Fire Lord Sozin betrayed Avatar Roku, the war advanced more and more. The only real positive of this was that technology was advancing farther and farther, too; in just the 100 years the war had lasted so far, technology had advanced so far that there was no need for messenger hawks anymore, no need for many of the things that once were used.

By extension of the technology advancing, weapons advanced, too. By the time Fire Lord Ozai took the throne, the number of benders in the world had decreased an extraordinary amount. There were no airbenders left that anyone was aware of, and very few waterbenders were around, either. The most plentiful benders- beside firebenders- were earthbenders, due to the amount that lived in the untouchable city of Ba Sing Se. 

But technology and benders weren’t the only things that were different now. The way that people  _ lived  _ was different. The Fire Nation- once a bright world of peace and life- was now dark and menacing. The Earth Kingdom- once a place full of freedom and happiness- was now a place where everyone lived in fear. The Water Tribes- once places full of laughter and healers- was now a snowy, barren wasteland of miserable people making sure no waterbenders were ever discovered. The Air Temples were completely empty, as opposed to the once plentiful amount of Air Nomads who lived there. 

The only place in the world that was safe anymore was the city of Ba Sing Se. Due to the thick walls that surrounded each ring of the city, it was practically impossible to break in… or  _ out  _ for that matter. The Dai Li was once an organization to keep the cultural aspects of Ba Sing Se preserved, but it eventually corrupted. The war did not exist in the walls of Ba Sing Se- which is why it was the perfect place for people to hide. 

Ba Sing Se was the perfect place to hide. Everyone in the world knew this- even the Fire Nation. So long as you were not from the Fire Nation, you were allowed in the walls of Ba Sing Se. You were allowed to hide. You were allowed to escape the war.

To Prince Zuko and his Uncle Iroh, this was wonderful. Ever since Zuko had been banished, he had been attempting to find the Avatar- but he never was successful. The Avatar was, in fact, completely gone. It was as though he had never existed in the first place. This meant that Zuko had no way of restoring his honor- he had no way of returning home. So, he and his Uncle found a way to create a new life. A new home. A new start. 

With fake passports and names, Zuko and Iroh were able to take on the identities of Lee and Mushi, allowing them to enter Ba Sing Se and begin a new life. Nobody knew who they were there- it was perfect. 

They had been there for a few months before Iroh got the chance to open his own tea shop- the Jasmine Dragon. Zuko worked there most of the time, doing what he could to assist his Uncle, even if he didn’t  _ quite  _ enjoy it. What he especially was sure he wasn’t going to enjoy was school. Unfortunately for him, he had to go- now more than ever, seeing as they lived in the upper ring of the city.

It was nerve-wracking, starting at a new school. Especially when you were the Crown Prince of the most hated nation in the world. So, waking up the morning of Zuko’s first day wasn’t exactly the most thrilling thing ever.

He woke up just as the sun began rising. A bit too early, but it gave him enough time to at least try and tame his hair. His Uncle Iroh was already awake by then, but Zuko didn’t bother with trying to talk to him- he instead opted to change into an outfit he quite liked and then grab a cup of tea.

“Good morning, Prince Zuko,” Iroh said, watching his nephew closely as Zuko rummaged through the cabinet to pull out a teacup. “Are you ready for your first day at school?” Zuko shrugged slightly, finding his favorite cup and pulling it out, pulling Iroh’s favorite out as well. 

“I guess,” He replied, “I’m just worried that people will find out who I am.” Iroh nodded, grabbed the teapot from the stove, and putting it on the table. Zuko placed both cups down and Iroh poured both of them some of the tea. “Thank you, Uncle.” Iroh smiled.

“It’s Jasmine, your favorite. I figured you would appreciate something familiar before going to an unfamiliar place.” Zuko smiled a little bit, though it quickly disappeared to his typical, stoic expression. He took a sip from the tea. “Remember to call me if anything happens. I may be busy with the Jasmine Dragon, but you come first.” 

“I know, Uncle Iroh. I’ll be fine, but I’ll call you if something happens.” He replied. Iroh nodded, checking the time. 

“You should start heading out soon, nephew. You don’t want to be late on your first day!” Zuko nodded, finishing up his tea. He got up and grabbed his bag, slinging it over his shoulder. He waved good-bye to Iroh before walking out the door and heading off to the school building. He had been there before- only the day he was enrolled, however. 

By the time he got there, there were about fifteen minutes or so before the first period. He checked into the office, which he was told to do, and was told to wait there for a moment. Not long after, a girl with long brown hair came into the office. 

She had bright blue eyes, dark skin that was covered in freckles, and her hair was pulled back in a long braid, two strands tied into a loopy style with the help of blue beads. Her outfit consisted of a white overall dress with a blue shirt that had blue polka dots. She also had a water tribe necklace- a betrothal one, it appeared, but she clearly wasn’t engaged. 

“Hi!” She said, waving to Zuko. “You must be the new student, Lee- I’m Katara! I’m gonna be showing you around today. We might end up being a bit late to the first period, but it’s nothing that the teachers will mind.” She said. Zuko nodded carefully.

“I would introduce myself- but you already know my name, so it’s not much use.” He said, sort of jokingly. Katara smiled. 

“Follow me!” She said happily, turning again and walking out of the office. Zuko quickly followed after her. He was about the same height as her, honestly- he was maybe an inch taller. He worried that would make him seem younger than he actually was, as it always did, but that probably wouldn’t be as much of an issue here… hopefully. 

Katara led Zuko around the school, showing him where each of his classes was with the use of his schedule. It seemed easy enough to get around to each place, so he was faithful that he’d be able to work his way around on his own. She took him through the building in order of his classes, causing them to have to turn around a bit to show him where each one was, but it was nothing too bad. At the very end of the tour, she stopped back in his first period. 

“And, that’s about all you need to know!” Katara said, smiling brightly. Zuko nodded a little bit.

“Thank you-” He said, but she cut him off.

“Oh! I just remembered. I wanted to introduce you to my brother! He’s in a lot of your classes- let me go get him. Wait right here!” With that, she turned and ran off again. Zuko hesitated before staying in the place she left him, clutching onto his bag anxiously. A minute or two later, the girl came back with a male who looked pretty much exactly like her- slightly darker skin than her that was covered in freckles, dark brown hair with an undercut that was pulled into a wolf tail, and the same stunning, bright blue eyes.

“This is Sokka! Sokka, this is the new kid- Lee!” She said, smiling widely. 

Sokka looked Zuko up and down quickly, taking in his outfit, which was relatively simple- a pale yellow button-down shirt with a red sweater vest on top, paired with black jeans and a yellow belt. It contrasted Sokka’s outfit rather well. Sokka was wearing a white crop-top with the water tribe symbol on it, black jeans, and a sleeveless jean jacket. Zuko found himself looking at the ground to stop himself from staring. 

“It’s nice to meet you, Lee!” Sokka said, grinning brightly. Zuko quickly looked up again, sending him a small smile before falling stoic again.

“Yeah, it’s nice to meet you too, Sokka,” He replied. Before anyone could say anything else, the bell rang. 

“Oh! I’ve got to get to class- you two get inside your class! I’ll see you both at lunch, okay? You can sit with us if you’d like to, Lee!” Katara offered. Zuko nodded slightly and Katara ran off again. Both Zuko and Sokka went into their first class, which happened to be the same one. 

By the time lunch arrived, Zuko and Sokka had already become relatively good acquaintances- maybe even friends. Zuko found Sokka’s jokes funny, which gave Sokka’s ego an unneeded boost, and Sokka didn’t try questioning Zuko’s scar, which was always a plus. Sokka dragged Zuko off to what would probably be Zuko’s lunch table for the rest of the year, where four other people were already sitting. 

“Guys, this is the new kid, Lee!” Sokka said, still dragging Zuko behind him as he approached the table. Katara was one of the people at the table, but Zuko didn’t recognize the other three. “Lee, this is Bumi,” Sokka motioned to the second smallest kid at the table, who was wearing a beanie and a crop-top hoodie, “Suki,” he motioned to a girl with a tank-top that had the symbol of Kyoshi on it and jeans, “Toph,” he motioned to the smallest girl who had a slightly see-through yellow top with a camo undershirt, “and, you already met Katara.” 

“Great, a new member of the lame-gang,” Toph said, rolling her eyes slightly, but she smiled. “Cool to meet you.” Bumi looked excited.

“It’s always great to meet new people! I hope we can be friends.” Zuko nodded slightly, though he was a bit hesitant with it. 

“Yeah, I hope so, too.” He mumbled. Sokka sat down and motioned for Zuko to sit next to him, to which Zuko obliged. Lunch went pretty smoothly- he learned that Toph was blind and saw thanks to her Earthbending, that Bumi was also an Earthbender, and that Suki was, like Sokka, a Nonbender, and that the two used to have a fling back when they first met, but were never official. After lunch, the rest of the day went by relatively quickly, and before Zuko knew it, he was heading back to the tea shop to help his Uncle out. 

Maybe school wouldn’t be as bad as he thought.


	2. This is for Ozai, You Big Fat Nasty Fat Bitch- Oh, Hey, Jet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko's scar is an... interesting story.  
> When at the market, he runs into an old 'friend'. Maybe rekindling what they had wouldn't be the worst thing ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry if the beginning portion isn't accurate to a panic attack or if it was written wrong! If anyone who suffers from them finds it to be offensive, please let me know and I will change it.  
> On that note, panic attack tw! As well as child abuse (fuck you, Ozai.)

_ Slim, surprisingly cold fingers cupped the side of Zuko’s face, a thumb wiping his tears away from his left eye. He looked up at the man in front of him, shaking, words spewing out of his mouth without his understanding of what they were or why he was saying them at that point. He was terrified- and he refused to fight the man in front of him.  _

_ It was a sudden movement. One so sudden that Zuko hardly even noticed it as it happened, but once it was in motion, it was all he could focus on. His father’s hand moved from cupping his face to covering his left eye. _

_ The following moments went in slow motion. There was no pain, no sign of something bad about to happen- until all of a sudden, a bright glow came from his father’s hand, lighting up his eyelid from the dark area that was being hidden by the hand. Fire blasted out of his palm and fingertips, encasing Zuko’s entire eye and the left side of his face. _

_ He had never screamed so loudly or been in that much pain. _

Zuko shot up in bed, falling out and onto the floor, tangling himself in his bedding. His heart was racing, his eyes stung, and the left side of his face felt like it was burning. Not a painful burning, but uncomfortable nonetheless. It felt like there were hundreds of tiny sparks dancing under his skin, waiting to be ignited and burn him worse than before. He hated the feeling. 

Moving a shaking hand from the tangle of blankets, Zuko grabbed his dresser and pulled himself into a sitting position. He frantically kicked the blankets off his body, leaning his back against the bed and tugging at his hair, still shaking. He was hyperventilating and sobbing, yet he hardly even realized it. All he could focus on was the memory that was still fresh in his mind.

He could still feel his father’s hand on his face. The way that it heated up suddenly, the way he refused to retaliate, even when his own son’s face was on  _ fire _ , the way he declared Zuko banished and walked away without so much as another thought. He could still feel the fire that burned him so badly he went almost entirely blind in his left eye, went completely deaf in his left ear. The memory felt so fresh, so recent, so  _ real _ \- even though it had happened three years ago. He just wanted it all to go away. 

He wasn’t sure how long he stayed like that- curled up beside his bed, sobbing. All he knew was that he was eating breakfast and drinking tea with his uncle what seemed like hours later, acting as nothing had happened at all. His uncle had found him like that and managed to calm him down without touching him, which Iroh had learned the easy way was what Zuko needed in those times.

It was a weekend, meaning that Zuko didn’t need to go to school again. He had the option between working and going out to get stuff in the market for Iroh, and Zuko decided on the latter- he needed some fresh air, and he might run into some of his friends there… he sorta hoped that he would.

Zuko made his way into the market area of the town, wearing a jacket that used to belong to his mother- which was quite large on him, due to how much shorter he ended up being compared to most of his family- a graphic tee, and a pair of jeans. He had a list of things to get- mostly normal things or things for the shop, like more teacups and some food for them, as well as more tea leaves of certain kinds, so they were easy to find. 

He started out with getting the teacups and other non-food items, finding it easier to get the food last so that he could get home quicker and not have to risk some of the cold food starting to get bad. It didn’t happen often, but it was better safe than sorry. Once he got about half of the non-food things he needed, he heard a voice behind him that instantly put him on guard and made him a bit worried for his own safety. 

“Lee?” Zuko whirred around to face the person speaking to him, his eyes landing on a taller male that he knew all too well- Jet. Jet was wearing a much different outfit than the last few times Zuko had seen him, but it was still unmistakably him- chewing on a piece of wheat was something  _ only  _ Jet did. 

“What do you want?” Zuko asked hesitantly.

“I’ve been looking all over for you! And Longshot and Smellerbee- I can’t find either of them, either.” Jet said. Zuko was a bit taken aback by this- Jet was  _ looking _ for him? And he didn’t seem upset? “How did you manage to get into the upper ring?”

“Wait- you’ve been looking for  _ me _ ? Don’t you remember what happened at the tea shop?” Zuko asked. It was Jet’s turn to be confused.

“What? No- nothing happened at any tea shop. What are you talking about, Lee?” Jet questioned. Zuko stood there, kinda dumbfounded. 

“So you… don’t remember.” He said, mostly to himself. “Do you remember  _ anything _ about what happened? I mean- you  _ have  _ to remember something- or else you wouldn’t know who I am.” 

“I mean… I remember that we kissed on the fe-” Before Jet could finish speaking, Zuko cut him off.

“Okay- alright- that’s good enough of remembering for me!” So… that meant Jet  _ didn’t  _ remember accusing him of being a firebender. Alright, good. “My Uncle Mushi got his own tea shop- the Jasmine Dragon. I’m actually out getting stuff for the shop and us now.” Jet nodded a bit. 

“I got a job a little while ago. Ever since I got it though, I can’t seem to find  _ anyone _ … I hope they’re okay- Smellerbee and Longshot, I mean.” 

“That’s… kinda weird. I hope you find them soon.” He looked back down at his list of things. “I still have to get a few more things- if you want, I guess we can talk until I have to head back. You can tell me what you’ve been doing.” Jet hesitated for a second.

“...Sure.” He said finally. Zuko went around the market to get the rest of the things he needed, Jet following him around and mostly rant-talking. Zuko listened to every word. When Zuko was finally done shopping, they exchanged phone numbers and agreed to talk more later. 

Zuko really hoped that this relationship wouldn’t get fucked over like before. 

After he got back to the tea shop, he began putting the things he got away in their respective places. Iroh was in the back making some tea for one of the orders- there were surprisingly few people in the shop at the moment, but that was probably due to it being a bit later in the day when fewer people wanted tea. 

“You were at the market for a while,” Iroh began. “Did you run into someone?” Zuko hesitated.

“Yeah, actually,” He mumbled, hoisting himself onto the counter to reach the cabinet. Iroh had constantly pointed out that there was a stepping-ladder that Zuko could use, but he absolutely  _ refused  _ to use it. He claimed that it made him look too childish (but if we’re being honest, climbing on the counter made him just as childish as using a step-stool). He hadn’t grown much since the Agni Kai with his father, if at all, and it made him often get mistaken for younger than he actually is. 

“I ran into Jet. Before you freak out- he… he doesn’t remember accusing us of firebending. He didn’t seem to remember anything after the ferry…” He said quietly, placing the new teacups in the cabinet. Iroh gave him a slightly puzzled look.

“That’s quite odd,” He said. Zuko nodded.

“I agree. I was honestly prepared to fight him again if he started anything, but he seemed… confused. Scared, even. He said he was in the upper ring because his boss sent him there to get something specific- he’s still in the lower rings where he assumes Smellerbee and Longshot are.” Iroh nodded. “It’s… I want to be his friend, I think. I think he needs one. And I know that since we’re both in different rings, it’ll be harder- and even harder since he doesn’t know who I really am- but… I think I can manage. I  _ hope  _ I can manage.” 

“I understand, nephew,” Iroh said. “I’d just be cautious is all. I think it will be good for you to make another friend- you need more, you know. Ever since you were a child, you never really made attempts for friendship- you just allowed yourself to befriend your sister’s friends. I think it’s good that you are starting to make friends of your own,  _ on  _ your own.” Zuko smiled a little bit.

“Yeah. Thanks, Uncle.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm kinda debating with having a bit of a Jet-Zuko relationship for a bit here? Zuko/Sokka is obviously endgame, but I'm not sure.  
> What would you guys prefer? Let me know!   
> Also, Jet is /terribly/ out of character, I know. I'm sorry, I haven't seen any episodes with him in it in a little while! I'll try to get better at his character, I promise.


	3. Update

This is a very short chapter because it's not really a chapter! It's an update.

I'd like to say that I'm sorry for how long updates are taken- I've been busy and lacking motivation, but a new chapter is on the way. Before it comes, however...

I'm going to be going on a hiatus. I may update other works or post other works in the mean time, but this story will be on pause until I have the proper motivation and ideas. I only want to give you the best. 

I hope you all understand! I'm excited to get the next chapter out to you all, even if it will most likely be a shorter chapter/filler chapter probably focused on Jetko and platonic Zukka (don't worry, romantic Zukka is endgame). 

Thank you guys for reading! I appreciate every comment and kudo and bookmark I receive. 

**Author's Note:**

> Spare kudos and comments? Please?


End file.
